To kick off tonight’s WWE NXT, surprises from TNA Wrestling as Joe Hendry and Frankie Kazarian made appearances.
The opening bout of WWE NXT was battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Championship, earning a shot at Trick Williams at NXT Heatwave.
While the first star to receive an on-screen entrance was Je’Von Evans, there were already a large field on competitors waiting in the ring.
One of those already in the ring was TNA’s Frankie Kazarian.
The second big entrance was another big name from TNA as an iconic wrestling theme began and fans knew immediately who it was.
Joe Hendry appeared to a thunderous Performance Center reaction with the crowd clearly excited about his appearance in WWE.
While he got a microphone to cut a brief promo, he was confident that he could win the battle royal and bring the NXT Championship back to TNA Wrestling.
Before the bell, Ethan Page was attacked by Oro Mensah (the latter of whom wasn’t in the match) and they brawled away from the ring – the bell had rung, but Page never went over the top rope, instead they both went through the ropes, so Page shouldn’t have been counted as being eliminated.
The first actual elimination was Joe Hendry, who was thrown out by fellow TNA talent Kazarian.
While Hendry may have been eliminated quickly, Kazarian would go on to have an impressive showing, including him eliminating both Damon Kemp and Myles Borne of No Quarter Catch Crew, and making it to the final four.
The full final four would end up being Je’Von Evans, Frankie Kazarian, Shawn Spears and Dragon Lee.
With an enormous Irish Whip, Evans ejected Kazarian over the top rope as Spears laid in wait after going under the bottom rope.
Je’Von and Dragon Lee would go on to have an exciting sequence, but in the end Shawn Spears would re-emerge to shove Dragon Lee off the top rope for the elimination.
In the end, it came down to Spears and Evans, and it was Evans who managed to pick up the win, meaning he is set to face Trick Williams for the NXT Championship on Sunday, July 7 in Toronto, the night after Money in the Bank.
However, worth remembering from the very start is that Ethan Page should never have been counted as being eliminated, he just never returned to the match after fighting off with Mensah.
This was addressed backstage after the match, as it was announced that Page would now face Evans in tonight’s main event.
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